On 27.8.2005 13:05 Mars wrote:[clev 28, dlev 31] Couldn't resist another try at Samurai. It's not actually the 2nd, but the first after the initial one to survive the early game. Also quite lucky; Robin Hood dropping +3 Westernesse weapon on dlev 11; Grimtooth from Tengu quest; Arvedui from the ultimate Dungeon Cleaner as random quest at 24, with the random resist being rPoison :). And what's more, from the Mimic's Treasure: Thranduil (with rSound!) and Genji gloves.

Skimming the top of the Dragon's lair hasn't been very fruitful so far, slain a few Ancient D's, got a !oCon and a very valuable staff of speed. Still it's pretty dangerous so I went back to dive in Angband a little. I'll probably die soon, anyway :P.

I just got excited with my lvl 29 Samurai coz he just got a Vampiric Katana... Your guy seems to be on a roll. Keep going.

On 27.8.2005 13:58 Mars wrote:Yeah that's what luck means. On the other hand, I had one of this char's predecessors being quite lucky as well - early find of Gorinnosho, and finding Werewindle (elec brand!) in the mimic quest. With lightning eagle + elec brand I was pretty happy, until in the dungeon all stats got swapped by nexus attacks, reducing his damage output to one or two blows, and then then getting stolen blind and disenchanted by Alberich (I think). I was so frustrated I suicided the character and even deleted the savefile -- one of the first times I ever done that. Pretty stupid move as that char still had chances (given time), but the frustration of being slowed down in progress that much made it unbearable for me to continue it.

On 27.8.2005 23:43 Mars wrote:[clev 34, dlev 38] Just returned from the Cloning Pits which wasn't too much trouble, also thanks to Zantetsuken (dropped by Bolg, after Ishawaka didn't). Took out the Gachapins first, then the Queen ants who were as always summon happy (Fire ant body count now totals 260). They took the longest, the rest was pretty easy using the way of the samurai ;). The melee monsters just fell to Tobi-Izuna performed across the chasm, and the magic users using the fire/poison/cold attacks. Too bad I didn't find a copy of the 3rd samurai book.

On 28.8.2005 16:17 Mars wrote:[clev 37, dlev 43] Went to Dragon's lair with 2 scrolls of Acquirement, wanting a copy of the 3rd book, but I got Slayer and Turmil in return. Not a bad deal I guess. I think I'll slay some more D's around the stairs there then hoping for the book to turn up. I'll probably have a go at the Old Castle soon, but preferably with at least +10 base speed.

On 28.8.2005 17:15 blackreaver368@yahoo.com wrote:OMG, you got something useful from a scroll of Acquirement?? And Slayer no less ... Wow. Congratulations!

On 29.8.2005 12:33 Mars wrote:Even though I didn't get what I wanted (3rd book), yes I can consider myself lucky :). The first ?Acq I read there (earlier this char) gave me an Orcish Pick of Digging (+2).. Seems that ?Acq isnt *always* just junk :).

On 3.9.2005 19:53 ralonso@au1.ibm.com wrote:Ditto the Acquirement remark. My monk got "Chainsword" from reading on the top level of Dragon's Lair. Useless for a monk but a Warrior type would've been quite happy...

On 13.9.2005 14:39 Mars wrote:[clev 40, dlev 50] Finally found the 3rd book. Slayer is great, but now i'd like something with elec brand for a nice Lightning Eagle effect. Always something to complain :P. Low (+4) speed is also getting annoying and the reason I didn't do the Old Castle yet. Is it possible at +4 with only 'Superb' stealth?

On 13.9.2005 15:08 Elliott946@aol.com wrote:With your damage output, I'd say its doable as long as you bring plenty of sources of speed along with you.

Wow, finding Slayer there was pretty lucky, as was finding Zantetsuken on Bolg! I've actually never found Slayer, so I'm rather jealous.

On 13.9.2005 16:32 blackreaver368@yahoo.com wrote:I'd wear Zantetsuken over Sting every day of the week ... take off your ring of Slaying for Nether resistance if you must :-)

In fact, I would dual wield Aglarang and Zantetsuken the entire rest of the game ... You will dish out between 1500 and 2000hp/round if monsters do not resist Lightning. This is Berserker caliber damage!!

On 13.9.2005 16:34 blackreaver368@yahoo.com wrote:Also, no need to carry Kendo books. Once you learn the spells, they may sit at home.

Good Luck on the Castle! You will be extremely well rewarded :-)

On 13.9.2005 19:39 Mars wrote:Yes, I'm quite happy with the damage dealing capabilities of this samurai >:D. Thanks for the tip on the books btw, that's gonna save some inventory space!

Problem with Zantetsuken is the annoying inability to attack female creatures. Instead of doing 0 damage (like when attacking j's) you can't attack at all, not even with the other dual wielding weapon. On the other hand, I could just carry a swap for that, there's not _that_ much females anyway.

Let's see, i'm pretty well stocked, except for !oResistance. Tho I could bring Colluin with me just in case. And I shouldn't forget ?oMonster Confusion like the last time to make the Titans easier =]. I'll have a go this evening :P.

On 14.9.2005 00:39 Mars wrote:[not dumped] Well, pulled it off. Hardest part was surprisingly the Raal's bringing me in the red. Nothing very useful popped up, but the quest reward makes up for it.

My calcs, counting Aglarang as enchanted to +10 and vorpal as an additional 1/6th:

Slayer: 7*(4d5+15) = 7*(12+15) = 189 [273, 315, 357]

Agla: 7*(8d4 +10) = 7*(20+10) = 210 * 7/6 = 245

Zant: 5*(10d4+21) = 5*(25+21) = 230 * 7/6 = 268

Slayer pretty much competes as long as it can use one of it's slays (evil, human, undead, in that order), so I won't ditch it yet.

On 14.9.2005 01:23 blackreaver368@yahoo.com wrote:Yes, but Lightning Eagle, man, Lightning Eagle ;-) I think Slayer only competes if your opponent is an evil lightning resistant critter. You calc Slayer at 273 for slay evil. This is nice. I calc Aglarang and Zant. at about 900 *each* when Lightning Eagle is in play. At least try it out for a bit ;-)

And congrats on the quest!

On 14.9.2005 01:44 wrote:Details of the Calc:
Aglarang: Base damage is 8d4. Average of 20 points. Lighting Eagle is 5x. Average 100 points. 1/6th of hits are vorpal and those that are are 200, 300, 400, and higher points of damage. Figure conservatively that you need to add 100/6 or about 16 to account for the Vorpal Effect. We also completely ignore critical hits. So one Lightning Eagle attack with Aglarang is 116 points. Now, you add in the damage bonuses, which are +10 (but more based on your Stats, Cambeleg, Shiva's Avatar, etc). But for now, we'll figure just +10. So each strike is 126 points. You get 7 attacks, so that is 882. Now you should also factor in that you will miss from time to time, but I've been ignoring that. In reality, you hit rate will seldom exceed 70% against a quality opponent.

Zantetsuken is similar. 10d4 averages to 25. Lightning Eagle pushes up to 125. Vorpal hits occur 1/6th the time with damages of 250, 375, 500 or more. Figure we just add 125/6 or about 20 to account for the vorpal effect. That gives 145 on damage dice. +21 to damage gives 166 per strike. 5 attacks gives 830/round.

Now Slayer. You've done the math, but to be fair, assume Lightning Eagle is also in play. Then the pitiful 4d5 is about 12 average. x5 from the Lightning gives 60. + 15 gives 75 damage per strike. 7 attacks gives 525/round. Weaker, but definitely usable, especially if you need the vampiric effect. But you have no chance of landing the money shot ... I've had Lightning Eagle smites that were also good hits (60x damage multiplier), and these are what make Samurai fun!

Either way, though, you are sure to kick some butt!!

Cheers!

On 15.9.2005 11:51 Mars wrote:Hm I hadn't taken LE into it. Well I got nice awesome weapons to choose from that's for sure! Now it's waiting for the Glaive of pain, Ulmo, Taratol (x7 lightning eagle! THE dragon slayer? :D), Aule. Vorpal blade, Chainsword? ^_^

If I don't die stupidly first. I was *really* close in the Old Castle: "Raal's breathes fire -more- Raal's breathes nether -more- Raal's casts a mana bolt -more- LOW HITPOINT WARNING!". Quickly closed the door and used the Reflection posture to help survivability :).

On 15.9.2005 17:19 Mars wrote:[clev 43, dlev 55] Just taking out some uniques around these depths. Speed is really becoming a problem. Thuringwethil was killed on the last trip down, but not before summoning some Elder Vampires who summoned more undead. Mopped them all up, including a Nightwalker which may have been a bit stupid as Zantetsuken got disenchanted (lost 2 toHit, 1 toDam), my Genji gloves lost 2 toHit. Bard lost some +es too but that's not very important. More importantly, one of the undead left an unknown ring which turned out to be Lordly Protection with rNether, rPoison, rDisenchant, and Hold Life! That allowed me to take care of Shudde M'ell on the same level without having to fear his disenchantment breath. Did I already mention I *LOVE* this guy's damage output with Lightning Eagle? =]

On 15.9.2005 18:01 Elliott946@aol.com wrote:Oh, man. Letting those weapons get disenchanted is shame. Well, Aglarang is fine, but not Zantetsuken.

I remember looking at a ToME character dump one time, and the guy had used the Vorpal Blade to kill a ringwraith. It was down to like (+2,+2) or something. Now THAT was a crime.

On 15.9.2005 21:30 Mars wrote:Well, Zantetsuken only lost 1 toDam, which comes down to a decrease of 5 points of damage (5 blows). I can live with that. Though it was careless of me, I admit.

On 16.9.2005 23:10 Mars wrote:[clev 45, dlev 62] Diving a bit more. Killed some Brand (no Xbow) and Caine (quest), who both had a wimpy blood curse. Still haven't seen my first amulet of anti-magic! Most perilous moment was vs. Mycen, who double moved on me (I was at +19, and I think he is +15) and breathed mana and light. Even though he was down to half health it left me in the low 100's. A Nightcrawler dropped Crimson, which is a welcome small speed bonus.

On 19.9.2005 18:42 Mars wrote:[clev 49, dlev 70] Well, I need more base speed. Just had a skirmish with an out of depth (vaultish thing) Mouth of Sauron in the Dragon's Lair, but with base speed of +10 it was just too dangerous with his double moves and dispel magic. After I ran out of charges in my staves of speed decided to teleport out and *destruct* him, as he was on an unknown amulet. It was the pitch dark night one. Oh well.

On 22.9.2005 15:21 Mars wrote:Iketa dropped a PDSM (first timer in Heng, IIRC!)! That means I've got some equipment shuffling to look forward to in order to get more stat points (preferably CON) and speed in, and reflection maybe. I got lotsa cool stuff lying around so I see if I can fit something :).

On 22.9.2005 19:54 Mars wrote:Didn't really like the CON i could get so decided to try some !oNewLife. First one hit the right spot: Life rating from 96 to 111, STR from 18/100 to 130, and CON from 18/80 to 18/110. Lost /10 in DEX and WIS but that's minor, DEX is stil maxxed and WIS is not that important.

Now I can wear amulet of reflection and have a free ring slot. And I don't know if I should put speed (+4, grr), slaying, or extra attacks (+1) there. Or maybe Frakir for SI, but I can also switch to Jack of Shadow's cloak now for that (+telepathy), giving up Colluins activation but allowing me to wear another light source (JoJ for example, for speed and hold life). Luxury problems ^^.

On 23.9.2005 15:42 Mars wrote:[dlev 78] Diving to the next random quest, just killed Wahha man, who was a complete pushover (wind blast/tobi izuna). He got one hit in. Turning his corpse in to the Beastmaster leaves only Kronos as wanted. He'll be tougher, like more of the higher uniques that resist all basic elements. Eg, the Norsa was a *pain*.

The Destroyer will probably suffer the same fate as his little brother, though with his breath I will need some healing, too. Oh, also found the last book! Finally :).

On 23.9.2005 15:47 Mars wrote:Elliott: I didn't artifact it, have yet to see a ?oArtifact Creation. I just renamed it with an inscription (with #Text). I don't know if artifacting it will be a good idea, won't there be a big chance of getting aggravate/anti magic/curse? Also, the (-3) on it doesn't look very promising either... Anyone fooling around with wizard mode can give me some pointers? ^^

On 23.9.2005 19:40 wrote:That (-3) is just a to-hit modifier (you see it on the Julian's armor too) so don't worry. :)

?oAC sometimes adds anti-magic or anti-teleport, that's for sure, but I don't think it have any chance to add aggrivation or curse. And even in that unfortunate case you can use a scroll of mundanity to reset it to an usual PDSM [40,+15]

On 25.9.2005 15:47 Mars wrote:Well, it might be worth the shot.. Dunno for sure yet, I'll have to see what my needs are when I finally get that ?oAC. I can always hope for a +4 CON/WIS/STR, reflection, ESP and some immunities :D.

Heck, if you got PDSM, maybe the RNG likes you and will grant your wish!

On 29.9.2005 23:54 Mars wrote:[dlev 84] Not much progress, just doing some unique bashing. Harvey ran into a metal babble previous dungeon level. Of course, he ran ;-).

On 2.10.2005 14:37 Mars wrote:[dlev 88] Quest was Cerberus, a pushover. Also on the level: Kronos. Slaughtered him to complete the wanted monster list, so now in my home, one nice ?oAC. Haven't decided what to use it on yet: PDSM may be nice but it's already pretty complete. Elven cloak +4 or Scythe of Slicing may be candidates too.

On 2.10.2005 15:26 Elliott946@aol.com wrote:Are you nuts?!?!? Use it on the PDSM! Yeah, its great right now, but the scroll will only make it better!

Using it on the cloak would be a waste, because you've already got Jack of Shadows and its your source of telepathy. I'm a huge fan of high dice weapons, so the scythe of slicing is tempting. There might be dice limits, but if it got "of slaying" you could end up with a 16d4 weapon, which would be nice. Still, the PDSM makes this a no-brainer.

On 3.10.2005 17:44 Mars wrote:Well, I used it on the PDSM after all. It got a +5! Too bad it's to INT and infravision ^^. Why couldn't it be CON! Grrr! At least I didnt get antimagic or something, but I'm kinda disappointed :(.

On 3.10.2005 22:37 wrote:...What's its activation?

On 3.10.2005 23:49 Mars wrote:@anonymous: Still the standard one, breathe the elements (300) every 200+d200.

News flash: Nodens is down. He was less difficult than I thought would be, I prepared an ASC, woke him, and dug in. His first summon (in the only open slot, he was in the wall) was a giant slug which lasted the first few rounds of the fight where he tried some Hands of Doom and a mana bolt (reflected ^^). Then, down to half health or so, he changed tactics and pummeled me with a mana storm removing the slug. After my round of healing he summoned the destroyer in the open spot, which I tele'd away, and next.. yup, the unicorn. So I teleported out, taking him with me, and continued to teleport until I got a better place to finish him off. He gave no further problems, and dropped a crappy randart X-bow.

After him I went for the Destroyer, which turned out to be slightly more difficult than Wahha-man. Using the same tactics I destroyed it, tho I had to use some !Healing and 3 charges from my healing rods.

I'll skip the Unicorn, maybe I'll do that darn q later ;).

On 5.10.2005 01:14 Mars wrote:[dlev 99] Oberon down. Getting ready for the Serpent now. Taken out some other nasties like Shuma-gorath and Chtulhu. Found that 'Iron Ball' thing, which could be a pretty awesome weapon with lightning eagle. But its weight only gives me 4 blows AND it can't be dual wielded (too heavy -> *large* to-hit penalty), so even though LE would still give me ~1300ish damage it's not an option. I had some fun testing it in the Dragon Caves, tho :).

Nice calculation: 4 LE hits from it vs. a non elec resistant monster, if all hits would be *SUPERB*, would chop off a whopping 4500ish damage. Eat that ;D.

On 5.10.2005 13:42 Mars wrote:Tackling with the Unicorn, just for the fun of it. Knocked off 2 stars when he summoned Raphael so I had to recall out (was out of ?*Destruction*). Next trip down ran into him again, so I let him summon Raphael again, teleported out, destructed the Unicorn and killed Raphael. Thanks to the Unicorn trampling him down to 2 stars he was a pushover :D.

Of the non dungeon master uniques, only The wounded bear, Mario, Meneldor, Bull Gates, Yog-Sothoth, and Shub NIgurath remain. And the Ring+Morgy, ofcourse.

On 5.10.2005 17:51 Mars wrote:To add to the fun: just found a scroll of Artifact Creation lying on the floor of dlev 99 :D. Yee-harr!

I used it on a Scythe of Slicing, but this result was disappointing too. It got +4 to CON, which is nice, but no increased dice, no speed or attacks bonus, and only poison brand.

On 6.10.2005 02:03 Mars wrote:Down with the Unicorn! The fight was quite heavy on resources, about 13 Healing, 5 *Healing*, 6 charges from healing rods used; about 5 !oResistance, a few 'shrooms of restoration, and 4 *destruction*. Good thing I brought enough scrolls of recharge (for rods), but I almost ran out of scrolls of teleport, as I had forgotten to restock them. His draining attacks rendered my 2 wands of rockets useless, but also my tele away and staves of speed.

Main tactics for this one: charge mana with concentration, twin slash the unicorn, twice if possible, then phase/teleport out and repeat. Sometimes a few normal rounds of melee, using Healing in between ofcourse, where sometimes the unicorn would blink away allowing me to rebuff as well. It was a fun fight, with lots of thinking out the next move(s), especially when my resources began running low. Loot surviving autosquelch: a Mace of Disruption and the shield of Thorin.

On 6.10.2005 15:54 roblt97@hotmail.com wrote:I see you've gone "defensive" (if you can say such a thing) with Slayer. Do you find the vampiric brand to be that much more helpful than the extra damage of Aglarang? Also, can you attack women with Zantetsuken in the off-hand?

On 6.10.2005 21:24 Mars wrote:The favoured combo is still Aglarang+Zantetsuken. I still always carry Slayer as swap as about 3rd best weapon. Especially the draining is nice. I swap it in for 1. attacking female creatures (offhand Zantetsuken doesnt allow attacking women either) when an activation isnt available or powerful enough; 2.against strong monsters resisting the elements, if a slay is applicable, e.g. Lords of Chaos (2 twin slashes are mostly enough); and 3. when I need the vampiric drain for some hitpoints (especially used when facing the deeper hounds that I can't avoid fighting). I used it in the fight with the unicorn expecting the drain to work but I was wrong.

Next Q: did you train dual-wield before you got your genji gloves? Or is genji the only way to really make it work?

And when the heck you going to finish with this Sam? Good grief you've got a monster here. :)

On 7.10.2005 00:32 Mars wrote:bcbarnes: Will do, I only occassionally check this address, I use it for web posting and stuff. Check your mail in a bit :).

Rob: I didn't dual wield before the Genji gloves, just because I found em so darn early. I think I didn't even use a shield. Without Genji, it's still worth training for some classes, but it's easiest if you start early then (but not too early). You just need to know when and where to train :).

As for finishing, well I know I'm taking my time, I'm just still having such a good time with this one! I'll 'scum' a bit to find that last deep unique and then go after the Serpent. I don't intend to finish it before taking out both Serpy and Morgy, and maybe I'll have a go at the ring too, depends on whehter or not I still feel like it.

On 7.10.2005 23:14 Mars wrote:Had a first go at the J, but he was a little too summon happy for the ?Geno i brought: special opponents, uniques, cyberdemons, black reavers, etc. Chewed off 3 stars but it was too much trouble, and decided I definitely want Yog-sothoth dead first as it's the only 'summonable' unique left that can cast dispel magic and has very high speed (save the ring and Morgoth). Killed Layzark and the chameleon lord too, just in case :p.

On 8.10.2005 01:38 roblt97@hotmail.com wrote:Wow, just noticed your fascinating choice of weapon in the a) slot. Slightly inferior dice damage to Zantetsuken but without the drawbacks, AND slay evil. Very nice indeed--even if you have spoiled the Samurai image. :) Would you take it all the way and ruin your look with a second one?

On 8.10.2005 16:20 Mars wrote:Thad Mace of Disruption is my weapon of choice vs. the Serpent as it's got the best damage against him. Also, the criticals are nice. I'll call the it the samurai school of Kisei chacha meisu-ryu! ;) (pardon my bad japanese, i'm not even a beginner at it :P)

On 22.9.2008 23:30 Mars wrote:Had this one on the shelf, in endgame since forever (along with a few others)... Since I just completed my other samurai char (Lumley) I thought I'd quickly finish this one as well.
The fight with the Serpent dragged on for quite a while, this char being quite a bit less deadly than Lumley. Still, down he went, clobbered by mace of disruption and aglarang.
Not feeling like going for the last uniques and all with him so quickly 'retired' :P.

On 23.9.2008 19:15 Mars wrote:Thanks :).
Yeah, I know. Just lost interest in playing Angband for a while. If my memory serves me right I also still have a Hengband android warrior in endgame, a Xangband sniper in midgame, and a Steamband Engineer in endgame. Most likely I'll resume the other Hengband character first.

On 30.10.2008 17:29 Elliott wrote:Ah, cool. Never noticed that gloves of Genji were technically called Genji Hikaru. I assumed the "Hikaru" part was the name of the randart, much like the "Cesti of the Scorpion" you've got in the bank a couple slots down.

I just quickly skimmed the notes on this character and stopped a TRULY AMAZING coincidence.

Long, long ago you found a suit of PDSM and I asked if it was an artifact, and you said "no, its just inscribed". 3 years, to the day, later, I notice your Genji gloves and ask if they're an artifact and you say "no, its just inscribed".

Not only did I ask the exact same question (albeit about a different piece of gear) on the same character, but I asked the questions EXACTLY 3 years apart (September 23rd in both cases). I find that remarkable.